Typically, players of video games involving physical activity and/or movement are forced to play those games within restricted environments. Such games are typically executed on gaming console machines (e.g., Nintendo's® Wii™) connected to home entertainment systems. Typically, players of such games interact with the games themselves via wired and/or wireless controllers. However, these controllers have a limited range, meaning that physical video games are most often played indoors within a limited range from the gaming console and/or home entertainment system. Game consoles typically must be positioned on a stable, flat surface, and require 110 volt connections to a power supply. These characteristics leave gaming consoles with little to no portability.
Multiplayer versions of video games involving physical movement typically allow multiple players to compete against one another. The players may be at one physical location, with simultaneous access to one gaming console. Alternatively, multiplayer gamers may link up over a network such as the Internet. Networked games are typically facilitated by wireline or wireless access provided to the gaming console. Despite the physical distance separating them, players engaged in a multiplayer game from different physical locations will still have limited movement due to the non-portable nature of their gaming console and/or the environment in which it is placed. Due to the complex routing techniques typically used by networked multiplayer games, those games typically rely on the constant presence of wireless and/or wireline network connectivity. If access to the network is interrupted for even very short periods of time, the multiplayer gaming experience can be deteriorated or lost altogether. Thus, it is sometimes not possible to enjoy multiplayer gaming involving physical movement at all, for example in a remote geographic area with limited or no network service available.